Impeachment court serves summons against Corona

(Updated 11:14 p.m.) The Senate, sitting as the impeachment court, on Thursday served summons against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona to answer the charges against him. Corona, who was impeached by the House of Representatives on Monday for alleged graft and corruption, culpable violation of the Constitution, and betrayal of public trust, was given 10 days or until Christmas Day to rebut those charges in the Articles of Impeachment. Under the rules of the impeachment court, Corona does not have the luxury of having the Dec. 25 deadline extended. Impeachment court presiding officer Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile ordered Senate sergeant-at-arms Jose Balajadia Jr. "to deliver to and leave with Chief Justice Renato C. Corona…” the written writ of summons. Corona is widely associated with former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is under hospital arrest for alleged poll fraud during the 2007 elections. Arroyo appointed him to the high court in April 2002, and named him Chief Justice in May last year, just weeks before she stepped down from the presidency. "What I received is the sealed documents and the instruction from the Senate President to give the documents [to] the Office of the Chief Justice Corona. If he can receive it, he will receive it. If he cannot, anybody who is responsible in his office to receive these documents," Balajadia told reporters in an interview Thursday. The writ was received by Rogelio Jubilo Jr. of the Office of the SC Chief Justice at 4:10 p.m. Thursday or about forty minutes after Balajadia left the Senate. President Aquino has never fully recognized Corona's legitimacy, saying this was a violation of a constitutional ban on so-called "midnight appointments" by an outgoing leader. Aquino won on a platform of good governance, and has vowed to correct the alleged abuses of the past administration. See the timeline here.